Tuesday, January 24, 2012

I'm sure you have a lot of fun choosing furniture and accessories for your home. I know I do.

However I always have a hard time finding artwork. It doesn't seem to matter if its original or mass produced, it just seems to take me a while to find the pieces that speak to me.

When I was building our country abode I found that since this is a second home that not only did I need to devote a lot of time and energy to the building process but I also needed to fully furnish it from scratch. That meant a lot of new artwork.

Here are some of my finds...

In my foyer I have a very large map of London that I found at Restoration Hardware. The color of the river exactly matches the silk curtains. A very lucky coincidence!

In my sons bedroom there is a gorgeous framed photo of a yacht from Ethan Allen.

In my daughters bedroom there are six framed antique pressed flowers that I found at Scotts Antique Market in Atlanta.

In our bedroom there are four pictures of birds (you can just see the edge of the fourth on the far wall of our bathroom)

I won't admit how long it took me but I actually made these myself. They are all cross stitched on linen...

Monday, January 23, 2012

Barbour has been quietly providing us with beautiful clothing since 1894.

Their coats and jackets are worn in London and in the countryside, by royalty and by those attending the Glastonbury festival.

When I lived in London it seemed to me that just about everyone we knew owned a waxed jacket from Barbour and judging by the picture of Kate Middleton wearing one I strongly suspect that they are just as popular today.

(Helen Mirren in The Queen)

I have a green Border Jacket which is over 20 years old and will probably last me at least another 20, but I would love to get another one in either black or navy.

These range in price from $149 to $799 and make one cup of coffee at a time. My husband loves really strong coffee, I love medium drip, Nespresso may have saved our marriage!

4. Kitchen Aid Mixer

I like the professional series because it has a hand crank bowl lift. It fits easily on the counter and never needs to be moved. Besides being a thing of beauty it whips up meringue unbelievably fast.

5. LG Front Load Steam Washing Machine and Dryer

I have these at both of my houses. The set at the lake house are newer and a little more up to date in that the dryer also has a steam function. I have never used it! But ... the steam option on the washing machine ... I use this all the time. A lot of clothing that used to be sent to the dry cleaners is now cleaned by me using my LG machine.

We love to make smoothies, soups, sauces and frozen drinks in this amazing blender.

7. iPad

My husband and children all had laptops. Since we also have imac desk tops at each house then I really couldn't justify getting a laptop for myself. However as soon as the ipad came out I knew I had to have one! I LOVE it, I can use it for 90% of my computing needs and I love reading books on it.

8. iPhone 4s

I bought the iphone when it first came out and until now had never updated to a newer version. My husband got one and I admit to falling in love with siri and knew I had to have one too. I ended up buying one for my 14 year old daughter at the same time. My son is only 11 and I promised that he too could get an iphone once he is in high school which he is very excited about.

He has an LG Octane which is a very nice phone and he is very happy with it. Last week at a school event a 9 year old girl holding an iPhone 4s came up to him and asked him why he had "that piece of ****". And that my dears is exactly why I don't believe in buying him an iPhone! Just because you have the means please do not spoil you children. My children have a very nice lifestyle but they are appreciative of what we give them. My son still loves his phone and I appreciate that he has manners :-)

9. Sony Alarm Clock

This does everything except make your coffee in the morning!

10. Kindle Fire

This is what we gave our children for Christmas. There was no need to buy them iPads since they both have Apple laptops but I really wanted to get them electronic readers. I ordered these the day they came out, and they love them so much. Kindles are wonderful but this version is so much more...

Hope you see something on this list that you like. Trust me each one of these gadgets makes me happy every time I use them and I have not always been a girl who enjoys cleaning her hardwood floors!